Help with (unplanned) Blueberries

HomeSlice5174(6)March 24, 2014

A friend of mine ordered some blueberry plants online, and has more than he has room to grow. He's offered me about a dozen for free, and I'd love to take them. They're a mix of bluecrop and blueray IIRC.

He said that they need some pretty acidic soil, which a brief read here seems to confirm. Our vegetable garden regularly tests between 6.5-7, so I don't think they'll do well if I just chuck them into the dirt.

Does anyone have a recommendation for quickly dropping the ph of my soil to give these things a chance? Alternatively, I suppose I could try to grow them in pots or 5-gal buckets for this year and plant them into the ground in the fall. If we go the potted route, I'll still need both a way to get decent soil for the pots as well as reliably drop the ph of my native soil over the summer.

Please offer any advice - we're not set on organic processes or materials.

Hi Homeslice,
The quickest way to drop your soil pH is with some kind of acid,either vinegar,which doesn't last too long or Sulfuric are some to use.By using a lot of Peat moss mixed with Pine and or Fir bark mulch will help.That's all I use in containers for a "soil". Brady

Dig hole 15 inches deep, 30 inches across. Mix hole with 50% or more peat moss which has a low ph. Plant your bb plants, stand back and watch em grow. This is what I did with all my plants years ago and they are thriving. I test the soil ph each spring, if too high fertilize with a handful of ammonium sulf a couple times during the growing season. Blueberries grow great in 100% peat so don't be afraid to use it. A close friend has potted plants in 100% peat that are 5 years old and doing fine.

I never use acid or vinegar and my ph is currently too low so I'm working to bring it back up. I do, however add apples in the fall around my bushes which drops the ph considerably. I won't be doing that for awhile. Use peat and mix it well into your native soil and your plants will do great. Keep them moist, make sure they get good sun.

If you are located in Indiana, you might consider visiting the web-site operated by "backyardberryplants" over near Bloomington, Indiana. He is growing blueberries organically, in raised berms. I mention this because he very likely is dealing with the same soil and climate that you are dealing with.

My fl soil has a rather high ph and very slow drainage so I mixed well composted palm pine and oak mulch with coffee grounds and miracle grow for cactus and citrus.... they have been in Ã¯Â»Â¿the ground two weeks and I tryed pulling a brown lead of and almost pulled Ã¯Â»Â¿the plant out of Ã¯Â»Â¿the ground ....... how do I fix that one and is it because it been raining really bad ..